I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Got to get down to the mine

You keep me up just one more night
I can't sleep here no more
Little Ben clock says quarter to eight
You kept me up till four

I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Or I can't work there no more

Lotta poor man make a five-dollar bill
Keep him happy all the time
Some other fellow making nothing at all
And you can hear him cryin' . . .

"Can I go, buddy
can I go down
Take your shift at the mine?"

Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues
He can't win for losin'
Lotta poor man got to walk the line
Just to pay his union dues.

I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm goin' back again
I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm goin' back again

"The best compliment I ever had on a lyric was from an old guy who'd worked at the Cumberland mine. He said, 'I wonder what the guy who wrote this song would've thought if he'd ever known something like the Grateful Dead was gonna do it'." -- Robert Hunter

Now he's gone
Lord, he's gone 
Like a steam locomotive 
rolling down the track
He's gone 
He's gone
And nothing's gonna bring him back
He's gone

Nine mile skid 
on a ten mile ride
Hot as a pistol 
but cool inside
Cat on a tin roof 
Dogs in a pile
Nothing left to do but 
smile, smile, smile

Now he's gone
Lord, he's gone 
Like a steam locomotive 
rolling down the track 

Going where the wind don't blow so strange
Maybe on some high cold mountain range
Lost one round but the price wasn't anything
Knife in the back and more of the same
Same old rat in a drain ditch 
Out on a limb
You know better 
but I know him
Like I told you 
What I said
Steal your face 
right off your head

Now he's gone
Lord, he's gone 
Like a steam locomotive 
rolling down the track
He's gone 
He's gone
And nothing's gonna bring him back
He's gone. . .

Keep a-rolling
Just a mile to go
Keep on rolling, my old buddy
You're moving much too slow

I just jumped the watchman
Right outside the fence
Took his rings, four bucks in change
Now ain't that heaven-sent?

Hurts my ears to listen, Shannon
Burns my eyes to see
Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon
Might as well be me

We used to play for silver
Now we play for life
One's for sport and one's for blood 
At the point of a knife
Now the die is shaken
Now the die must fall
There ain't a winner in this game
Who don't go home with all
Not with all . . .

Leaving Texas
Fourth day of July
Sun so hot, clouds so low
The eagles filled the sky

Gotta get to Tulsa
First train we can ride
Got to settle one old score
And one small point of pride

There ain't a place a man can hide, Shannon
Keep him from the sun
Ain't no bed will give us rest, man, 
You keep us on the run

Jack Straw from Wichita 
cut his buddy down
Dug for him a shallow grave 
And laid his body down

Half a mile from Tucson
By the morning light
One man gone and another to go
My old buddy, you're moving much too slow

We can share the women
We can share the wine . . .

Krazy Kat peeking through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire
like a diamond-eyed Jack
A leaf of all colors plays 
a golden string fiddle
to a double-E waterfall over my back

"Nobody ever asked me the meaning of this song. People seem to know exactly what I'm talking about. It's good that a few things in this world
are clear to all of us." - Robert Hunter

Brown-eyed women and red grenadine
the bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean
Sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down
And it looks like the old man's getting on

In 1920 when he stepped to the bar
he drank to the dregs of the whiskey jar
In 1930 when the Wall caved in
he paid his way selling red-eye gin

Brown-eyed women and red grenadine
the bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean
Sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down
And it looks like the old man's getting on

Delilah Jones was the mother of twins
two times over and the rest was sins
Raised eight boys, only I turned bad
Didn't get the lickings that the other ones had

Tumbledown shack in Bigfoot County
Snowed so hard that the roof caved in
Delilah Jones went to meet her God
and the old man never was the same again

Brown-eyed women and red grenadine
the bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean
Sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down
And it looks like the old man's getting on

Daddy made whiskey and he made it well
Cost two dollars and it burned like hell
I cut hick'ry just to fire the still
Drink down a bottle and you're ready to kill

Brown-eyed women and red grenadine
the bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean
Sound of the thunder with the rain pouring down
And it looks like the old man's getting on

Did you say your name was 
Ramblin Rose?
Ramble on, baby 
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

Just like Jack and Jill 
Mama told the sailor
One heat up and one cool down
Leave nothing for the tailor
Just like Jack and Jill 
My Poppa told the jailer
One go up and one go down 
Do yourself a favor

Did you say your name was 
Ramblin Rose?
Ramble on, baby 
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

I'm gonna sing you a hundred verses in ragtime
I know this song it ain't never gonna end
I'm gonna march you up and down the local county line
Take you to the leader of the band

Did you say your name was 
Ramblin Rose?
Ramble on, baby 
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

Good-bye, Mama and Papa
Good-bye, Jack and Jill
The grass ain't greener, the wine ain't sweeter
either side of the hill

Did you say your name was 
Ramblin Rose?
Ramble on, baby 
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose

Sweet blossom come on under the willow
We can have high times if you'll abide
We can discover the wonders of nature
Rolling in the rushes down by the riverside

She's got everything delightful
She's got everything I need
Takes the wheel when I'm seeing double
Pays my ticket when I speed

She comes skimming through rays of violet
She can wade in a drop of dew
She don't come and I don't follow
Waits backstage while I sing to you

She can dance a Cajun rhythm
Jump like a Willys in four-wheel-drive
She's a summer love in the spring, fall, and winter
She can make happy any man alive

Sugar magnolia
Ringing that blue bell
Caught up in sunlight

She's got everything delightful
She's got everything I need
A breeze in the pines in the summer night moonlight
Crazy in the sunlight, yes, indeed

Sometimes when the cuckoo's crying
When the moon is half way down
Sometimes when the night is dying
I take me out and I wander round 
I wander round

Sunshine daydream
Walkin you the tall trees
Going where the wind goes
Blooming like a red rose
Breathing more freely
Light out singing 
I'll walk you in the morning sunshine
Sunshine daydream
Walk you in the sunshine
Sunshine daydream

Lyrics in italics were written by Bob Weir.

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high 
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
'Cause Mister Charlie told me so

I won't even take your life 
Won't even take a limb
Just unload my shotgun 
and take a little skin

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high 
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
'Cause Mister Charlie told me so

Well you take a silver dollar 
Take a silver dime
Mix 'em both together 
in some alligator wine

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high 
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
'Cause Mister Charlie told me so

Now Mister Charlie told me 
Thought you'd like to know
Give you a little warning 
before I let you go

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high 
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
'Cause Mister Charlie told me so

Rich man step on my poor head
When you get up you better butter my bread
Well, you know it's like I said
You better head back to Tennessee, Jed

Tennessee Tennessee 
There ain't no place I'd rather be
Baby, won't you carry me 
Back to Tennessee

Drink all day and rock all night
Law come to get you if you don't walk right
Got a letter this morning and all it read:
You better head back to Tennessee, Jed

I dropped four flights and cracked my spine
Honey, come quick with the iodine
Catch a few winks down under the bed
Then head back to Tennessee, Jed

I ran into Charlie Phogg
He blacked my eye and he kicked my dog
My dog he turned to me and he said:
Let's head back to Tennessee, Jed

I woke up a feeling mean
Went down to play the slot machine
The wheels turned around and the letters read:
Better head back to Tennessee, Jed

Tennessee Tennessee 
There ain't no place I'd rather be
Baby, won't you carry me 
Back to Tennessee

"'Tennessee Jed' originated in Barcelona, Spain. Topped up on vino tinto, I composed it aloud to the sound of a jaw harp twanged bewteen echoing building faces by someone strolling half a block ahead of me in the late summer twilight." - Robert Hunter

Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street
Chicago, New York, Detroit, it's all on the same street
Your typical city involved in a typical daydream
Hang it up and see what tommorrow brings

Dallas -- got a soft machine
Houston -- too close to New Orleans
New York -- got the ways and means
but just won't let you be 

Most of the cats that you meet on the street speak of True Love
Most of the time they're sittin' and cryin' at home
One of these days they know they gotta get goin'
out of the door and down to the street all alone

Truckin' -- like the doodah man
once told me you got to play your hand
sometime -- the cards ain't worth a dime
if you don't lay 'em down

Sometimes the light's all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long strange trip it's been

What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same
Living on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine
all a friend can say is "Ain't it a shame"

Sitting and staring out of a hotel window
Got a tip they're gonna kick the door in again
I'd like to get some sleep before I travel
but if you got a warrant I guess you're gonna come in

Busted -- down on Bourbon Street
Set up -- like a bowling pin
Knocked down -- it gets to wearing thin
They just won't let you be 

You're sick of hanging around and you'd like to travel
Tired of travel, you want to settle down
I guess they can't revoke your soul for trying
Get out of the door -- light out and look all around

Sometimes the light's all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
what a long strange trip it's been

Truckin' -- I'm goin' home
Whoa-oh, baby, back where I belong
Back home -- sit down and patch my bones
and get back Truckin' on